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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Grilled Cheese mit a Twist

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, I poured a beer in honor of my mother. I toasted her, "Prost, Mutti!" and proceeded to mac down on a gloriously gooey and crisp sandwich.

I can get down with any kind of grilled cheese. American on doughy white, Vermont sharp cheddar on whole wheat, Raclette on sourdough. You grill it, I'll eat it.

But give me some Camembert and Preiselbeeren (lingonberries to those State side) and it's a mother and child reunion. It's sense memory and profound joy. I'm transported to the afternoon mom and I spent a lunch in Munich at a biergarten, sharing a huge slab of bauernbrot laced with chunks of fried Camembert and dollops of lingonberry preserves. She let me taste her beer.

Today I baked a loaf of King Arthur Flour's Classic White Bread in a pullman loaf. I sawed off hearty slices and spread one with a ruby red layer of lingonberry preserves and nestled creamy local Camembert on the other. I melted a few tablespoons of butter in a skillet and fried that sucker until cheese oozed from the bread and crackled in the pan. I poured the beer and shared this luxurious treat with my Raymo in honor of Helga and a wonderful afternoon we shared. So Prost and Happy Grilled Cheese Day!

For the Classic White Bread recipe, click here. If you are going to bake this in a pullman loaf, bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, take from the oven and then bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and until the bread sounds hollow when you knock on it.